STANFORD, Calif. (AP) - Still locked in a stalemate with legislators over a state budget, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was scheduled to deliver a private speech Wednesday at the Hoover Institution, the Stanford University think tank he turned to as a candidate to help shape his economic vision and budget plans. Schwarzenegger was to be the keynote speaker at an annual meeting of Hoover's board of overseers, as well as about 1,000 Stanford community members and their guests. But despite being embroiled in a high-stakes showdown with legislators over the state budget - specifically, how to fund state and local governments - the event was to be closed to press coverage.

"It's a 'by invitation only' event, and the conversation is off the record," said Hoover spokeswoman Michele Horaney.

Founded in 1919, the Hoover Institution favors conservative free market economic principles, including tax cuts and limited government intervention. Hoover came to prominence under President Ronald Reagan, when Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman and other Hoover researchers helped craft the administration's "supply side" economic theories.

Hoover scholars also helped President George W. Bush develop his economic plans, including two major income tax cuts.

During last fall's recall campaign, Schwarzenegger tapped several Hoover scholars to be members of his Economic Recovery Team, including Michael Boskin, President George H.W. Bush's economic adviser; George Shultz, a former secretary of the treasury and state; and John Cogan, a former assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Labor.

Two weeks after missing a state deadline to produce a budget, Schwarzenegger's advisers "just decided to keep (the Hoover speech) closed, like a fund-raiser," spokesman Rob Stutzman said.

No it's not. He has a BA in International Marketing and Business Administration from the University of Wisconsin. All Advertising hype, no economics.

You're right on the specific nature of Arnie's degree, but not his study.

"This appears on the Laissez Faire Books web site: I started flipping the television dial. I caught a glimpse of Nobel Prize winning economist Milton Friedman whom I recognized from my studies in economics. I didn't know I was watching Free to Choose. It knocked me out. Dr. Friedman validated everything I ever thought about the way the economy works. I became a big pain in the neck about Free to Choose. All my friends and acquaintances got tapes as well as books for Christmas after Christmas. If I had come up with Free to Choose, maybe I wouldn't have got into body building. -- Arnold Schwarzenegger

Arnold has been a frequent attendee and speaker at Reason Foundation Banquets in Los Angeles over the years. Even more it was recently uncovered that Arnold once attended a hardcore libertarian conference. Former UCSD student and current PrestoPundit.com Columnist Gregory Ransom discovered Arnold's name as an attendee at an obscure conference on Austrian Economics held at his college in the 1980s. He wrote, "I remember picking up a small, poorly bound book that was a collection of papers presented at a very academic, very technical symposium on Austrian economics... On the first page was a small list of attendees.. and there was Arnold Schwarzenegger's name."

Highly respected economic conservative and Washington Times Editorialist Donald Lambro had this to say about Arnold in a recent column; "he has deep-set political beliefs in the power of capitalism, deregulation and free markets to create economic prosperity. His reading includes books by Friedrich Hayek, the Nobel Prize-winning economist best known for his seminal free-market work, The Road to Serfdom." And according to a San Jose Mercury News report, Schwarzenegger is a fan of the University of Chicago Economics Department, which had provided President Reagan's economic advisers."

And this quote from Arnold once appeared in London's Financial Times; "I still believe in lower taxes -- and the power of the free market. I still believe in controlling government spending. If it's a bad program, let's get rid of it."

Lending even more credibility to his libertarianism Schwarzenegger appointed hardcore free market economist and drug legalization advocate George Schultz of the Hoover Institute to be a top Economic Advisor. In addition, during the campaign Arnold repeatedly asserted his enthusiastic support for Proposition 13 Property Tax Roll Back and Proposition 187 that eliminates illegal immigrants from the welfare rolls."

It will be interesting to see what the participants relate afterwards. If he has a long range plan, its a well kept secret. Nothing so far has inspired conservatives to believe he will make government smaller and more responsive to the present day needs of the people of California.

9
posted on 07/13/2004 7:40:36 PM PDT
by goldstategop
(In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)

No excuse. Arnold was hired to get the budget under control. So what does he do? He borrows the money, screws local government, pushes out eventual expenses, and raises spending, significantly. Schwarzenegger has visited a fraud upon the voters of massive proportion. He doesn't even pass as a "moderate."

10
posted on 07/13/2004 7:47:34 PM PDT
by Carry_Okie
(There are people in power who are truly evil.)

No excuse. Arnold was hired to get the budget under control. So what does he do? He borrows the money, screws local government, pushes out eventual expenses, and raises spending, significantly. Schwarzenegger has visited a fraud upon the voters of massive proportion. He doesn't even pass as a "moderate."

It will be interesting to see what the participants relate afterwards. If he has a long range plan, its a well kept secret. Nothing so far has inspired conservatives to believe he will make government smaller and more responsive to the present day needs of the people of California.

Uh huh. We need to turn redistricting over to an non-partisan elections agency or adopt PR. If PR were adopted, Republican chances would be even better thanks to getting a proportionate share of the vote in terms of seats. Reforms of course, which the Democrats who benefit from lopsided representation in a gerrymandering legislature, are dead-set against.

18
posted on 07/13/2004 9:36:49 PM PDT
by goldstategop
(In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)

Yep. Prop. 187 was invalidated by a single federal judge. Gray Davis did not even bother to file an appeal. Its possible most of the measure could have been saved and California would not find itself in its current straits today.

19
posted on 07/13/2004 9:38:22 PM PDT
by goldstategop
(In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)

Running a candidate like Lungren didn't help when the time came for reapportionment (nice guy, no charisma), but then the CAGOP gave that campaign a half-hearted effort too. Now they're screwing their own establishment pick, Bill Jones, by focusing all resources upon a Pyrrhic attempt to help Bush carry California.

20
posted on 07/13/2004 9:41:29 PM PDT
by Carry_Okie
(There are people in power who are truly evil.)

Yep. Prop. 187 was invalidated by a single federal judge. Gray Davis did not even bother to file an appeal. Its possible most of the measure could have been saved and California would not find itself in its current straits today.

Don't believe for a minute that it wouldn't pass again.

21
posted on 07/13/2004 9:42:23 PM PDT
by Carry_Okie
(There are people in power who are truly evil.)

Is there any chance of Arnold trying to revive 187, or do we have to start all over again? Californians passed it overwhelmingly, yet trying to get enough signatures again is difficult because people don't believe it will ever be passed.

A measure to put the Son Of 187 on the ballot failed this year cause they couldn't collect the required signatures in time for it to make the fall ballot. The sponsors are gearing up again for 2006. What will give it a definite boost is if Prop. 200 passes in neighboring Arizona.

24
posted on 07/13/2004 9:55:51 PM PDT
by goldstategop
(In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)

As I already mentioned, we're going to try again - this time with a measure that avoids the flaws that led to 187's demise. An initiative should be centered around citizenship and green card verification. No one can claim such a step is anti-Latino. Its not too much to ask people to prove who they are to get benefits and to vote.

27
posted on 07/13/2004 9:58:15 PM PDT
by goldstategop
(In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)

I'll hold off comment til we hear what Arnold told the Hoover Institution. Of course his budget doesn't get any closer to fundamentally remaking the state's finances as well as its governmental structure. Unless something changes, the state could suffer a fiscal meltdown down the road. Which might not be so bad as feared.

30
posted on 07/13/2004 10:13:39 PM PDT
by goldstategop
(In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)

Ballot propositions: Prop 227 English only education in public schools Passed Prop 209 No more affirmative action in State hiring or education Passed Prop 22 Heterosexual marriage only Passed Prop 187 No benefits for illegal aliens Pass

Which of those moderate positions is Arnie not on board with?

Don't give me that crap about California until you know what the hell you are talking about. The problem in this State is a gerrymandered legislature, not the voters.

227 he clearly supports. 209 I don't know. He gives lip service to Prop 22 and 187, but when given the opportunity he's been a no show.

209 and 187 were conservative, not moderate propositions. In fact, not a few moderates opposed them.

You can't blame gerrymandering on the voting decisions made in 2000.

No, I can't, but then, the CAGOP didn't exactly get out the conservative vote here either. The point was and is, when you give California voters a clear choice on conservative issues, they have voted that way. Thus the general election results indicate a failure on the part of the CAGOP leadership and candidate process, more than it does the voters, which is what I've been telling you. Even in cases where Republicans lost statewide elections, conservatives came closer to winning than moderates did, as the paired races between Boxer/Hershensohn and Feinstein/Seymour (a Republican incumbant) demonstrated. McClintock was the biggest vote getter in the last regular general statewide race receiving virtually NO support from the Party.

It's not as liberal a state as you make it out to be.

33
posted on 07/14/2004 12:10:26 PM PDT
by Carry_Okie
(There are people in power who are truly evil.)

Embarrassed? Schwarzenegger's degree is in economics, and he's more attuned to Mises than Marx.

More Schwarzenegger Myth!

He was in a "distance learning" program (i.e. by mail) that gave him credit for "life experience" and being an actor. He basically got a degree for agreeing to give lectures on fitness. He was enrolled for one year... showed up a couple times on campus during the year... his curriculum included swimming, archery, and bodybuilding. Quite the Scholar that Dr. Schwarzenegger! (NOT). The only one that seems to refer to this seriously as an "Economics Degree" was Arnold in his state filings. This is certainly not the traditional economics education, nor would it qualify at any reputable institution of learning, except those willing to prostitute themselves for a celebrity.

Per Schwarzenegger candidate filings (Calif state website):

B.A. in business and international economics, University of Wisconsin-Superior, 1980

Los Angeles Times, August 22, 2003

The career he was aiming for needed some kind of credibility, said Rhea S. Das, a Wisconsin-Superior psychology professor who was largely responsible for recruiting Schwarzenegger. He realized the lack of a degree would be a hole in the fabric.

Today, as Schwarzenegger campaigns to become Californias governor, that bachelors in international business and international economics, obtained mostly through correspondence classes, has provided more heft to a résumé weighted heavily toward big-bang action movies. No matter that the college is largely unknown outside the forested region and is smaller than Santa Monica High, the sheepskin has given Schwarzeneggers supporters the ability to say he has brawn and brains.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Aug. 8, 2003

Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger earned a bachelor's degree in 1979 through a University of Wisconsin-Superior distance education program.

The degree was in an individualized major emphasizing international marketing of fitness and business administration, said Beth George, spokeswoman for the university. Although it was largely a degree earned through correspondence, the movie star did have to do some work on campus, including giving some lectures.

News Tribune duluthnews.com, Aug. 16, 2003

Not enough is being made of Arnold Schwarzenegger's close association with the University of Wisconsin-Superior now that he is running for governor of California.

You see biographical data on the actor/bodybuilder/candidate saying he was graduated from the University of Wisconsin. It conjures images of the main campus in Madison, in the shadow of the state capitol, on the shores of Lake Mendota, Corinthian columns almost as large as Arnold's arms, ivy-covered facades.

Nope. Not quite. Move a few hundred miles to the north, to a smaller University of Wisconsin campus just off Belknap Street in Superior, not too far from the shores of Lake Superior. That's where Arnold received his bachelor's degree in 1980, but not exactly as a book-hitting, pub-crawling ordinary student. He was able to trade on his life experience and count credits he'd taken at a couple of colleges in California, said Rhea S. Das, who brought Schwarzenegger to the Superior campus in the first place.

(snip)

Schwarzenegger was enrolled in the standard extended degree program in which students are expected to come to the campus and meet with faculty, plan their course, get instructions and return for evaluation and other events. Assignments are given and fulfilled by mail, meaning the student doesn't have to sit through classroom lectures. Schwarzenegger was considered a senior when he entered the program, and he completed it in one year, visiting the campus several times to conduct workshops on bodybuilding and success.

He tested for credit (taking the final exam but not the course) in swimming and archery, and was given a waiver in bodybuilding. Smooth move.

Madison.com (Capital Newspapers), August 11, 2003

"Basically, he was in his weightlifting days," Beth Sundin, a university spokeswoman, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in 1996. "And one of our professors, Rhea Das, convinced him to lecture here on the philosophy and psychology of sports."

Schwarzenegger was interested but mentioned he had begun a business education in Europe. Further discussion resulted in a plan for Arnold to teach five workshops on campus and, later, finish an undergraduate business degree by correspondence.

He did, in 1979, and then in 1996, when he'd become truly famous, Schwarzenegger was invited back to Superior to get an honorary doctorate in letters. Arnold picked it up in person and was quoted saying: "I tell you, this is absolutely fantastic." ...

Los Angeles Times, August 22, 2003

The school first came to Schwarzeneggers attention when Das, at the urging of her children, invited him to campus as a guest lecturer. They were fans of Schwarzeneggers since seeing him in the 1977 documentary Pumping Iron and after reading his autobiography, Arnold: The Education of a Bodybuilder.

But Schwarzenegger also wanted a degree. He was within striking distance because of a hodgepodge of college credits accumulated in the early 1970s, mostly at Santa Monica College and in UCLAs extension program.

After Schwarzenegger accepted a position as cooperating faculty member, administrators could then waive residency requirements so he could participate in the universitys fledgling extended degree program while specializing in fitness marketing and business administration. He paid in-state tuition fees, even though he was largely completing classwork from Los Angeles, Das said.

Schwarzenegger received some credits for his life experience as a fitness expert. He failed, however, to convince the schools communications arts department to give him credits in acting for his pre-blockbuster film career, which included the B-movie Hercules in New York, in which his accented voice was dubbed. But it did grant him credits for film production.

(snip)

Schwarzenegger finished his remaining degree requirements in less than a year, earning the bachelors in November 1979 that was formally awarded to him at a May 1980 commencement.

Shwarzenegger should have submitted an amended budget for 2003-4 that was a 9% across the board cut within a week of being elected. At that time he was riding high. The State had increased spending 40% in five years. A 9% cut was quite doable both fiscally and politically.

After it would have been rejected, he should have submitted another of the same general vein for 2004-5, months early. Then after getting what they would have passed, he could then whack it with a line item veto and take the heat for it issue by issue. The state HAD a Constitutional balanced budget requirement at that time that Arnold has since effectively blown. The Republicans in the legislature are sufficient in number to preclude a tax increase or an over-ride of a veto. Thus the Democrats would then have had to face the choice of insolvency and shutting down the State in the face of Arnold beating them over the head with the scale of recent spending increases. Better sooner than later.

Instead Arnold started cutting deals with the Slave Party. He NEVER should have borrowed the money to cover anything but pre-existing debt and for sure as hell he's accountable for advancing and supporting the provision in Prop 58 that now allows the State to keep borrowing. He deliberately misrepresented its impact to the voters as "cutting up the credit cards." The man was lying through his teeth.

A huge opportunity was lost for which the voters were ready having already been told that the State was broke. Arnold is now responsible for the mess and the Republican Party with him by association.

37
posted on 07/14/2004 12:43:13 PM PDT
by Carry_Okie
(There are people in power who are truly evil.)

If truth in advertising applied to the California Recovery Team, they wouldn't have been able to so grossy misrepresent both Prop 57 and Prop 58. Phrases like "spending cap", "cut up the credit cards", "never again", "required to avoid bankruptcy", etc. would never have been used. Without the distortions and scare tactics, it would have failed... and the state would be better off. Now, we're right where we were, but instead of the existing debt at the time (about $7 billion), we're stuck with a $15 billion bond.... and still borrowing! Grrrrr... YOU don't mean to make me irate... the actions make me irate. /rant off

Actually, I followed that link earlier... no surprises in that article, except to those who want to keep their heads in the sand. I think the column hits it right on target, and the sooner folks become aware of it, the better, IMO.

Excerpt:

In Hollywood, everyone is always pitching something (Schwarzenegger calls himself a "salesman by nature"), everyone always talks in positive superlatives, and no one believes anyone. The Hollywood practice is to leave the real work to lawyers, who draft jillion-page contracts.

The Capitol operates on a different model. Call it honor among thieves, but the Capitol credo is that one promises only what he is capable of delivering, and handshake deals are honored as if engraved in stone. The building simply cannot function any other way because there's not enough time to have everything lawyered to death.

Schwarzenegger is headed for even more trouble if he persists in acting like a movie star rather than the state's top political executive.

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